Video Qualification Device, System, and Method

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing video qualification, which might include implementing video quality measurements at a subscriber premises and qualification of the subscriber premises for particular levels of video data transmission. In some cases, one or more customer premises equipment might comprise video quality chips that might perform measurements of the telecommunications links, and might send the results to a server associated with the service provider. The server might determine available video services, based on the results of the measurements, and might send the subscriber notifications indicating that the subscribers qualify for particular video services. In some cases, implementing video qualification might include the server determining that video service levels provided to a customer premises has been decreased or otherwise negatively affected. The server might order diagnosis and repairs of the affected equipment, and might send a notification to the subscriber indicating that repairs are underway.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/519,368 (the “'368 application”), filed Oct. 21,2014 by Ronnie S. Dhaliwal et al. (attorney docket no. 020370-011110US),entitled, “Video Qualification Device, System, and Method,” which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/159,314(the “'314 application”; now U.S. Pat. No. 8,896,707 B2), filed Jan. 20,2014, by Ronnie S. Dhaliwal et al. (attorney docket no.020370-011100US), entitled, “Video Qualification Device, System, andMethod,” which claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.61/809,114 (the “'114 application”), filed Apr. 5, 2013, by Ronnie S.Dhaliwal et al. (attorney docket no. 020370-011101US), entitled, “VideoQualification Device,” the entire disclosure of each is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to a device, system, andmethod for implementing video qualification, and, more particularly, toa device, system, and method for implementing video quality measurementsat a customer premises and qualification of the customer premises forparticular levels of video data transmission.

BACKGROUND

Today, specialized equipment must be installed at the customer premisesin order to test if video, and what level of video quality, can bedelivered to that location. This requires specialized equipment and atrained technician to make multiple visits to the location to testwhether the location qualifies for video services.

Hence, there is a need for more robust and scalable video qualificationsolutions.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various embodiments provide techniques for implementing videoqualification and/or implementing video quality measurements at acustomer premises and qualification of the customer premises forparticular levels of video data transmission.

According to some embodiments, a system might provide a method formeasuring the video quality levels at a customer's premises (either thecustomer's home or business premises). The video qualification systemmight gather data about the quality of the data feed and what level ofvideo it could support.

In some cases, this system might utilize a system on a chip (“SOC”) thatmay be added to existing customer premises equipment (“CPE”), such as anetwork interface device (“NID”), an optical network terminal (“ONT”), amodem, or other device that could be easily installed at the customerpremises (typically on an exterior wall thereof). This device might beset-up to monitor the quality of data and quality of data transmissionat the customer premises, and then report it back to a monitoring systemto identify homes that qualify for particular levels of video services.By doing so, no special equipment needs to be installed to qualifylocations for video services. The system could also reduce cost becauseit would be common in most, if not all, CPE.

The tools provided by various embodiments include, without limitation,methods, systems, and/or software products. Merely by way of example, amethod might comprise one or more procedures, any or all of which mightbe executed by a computer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment mightprovide a computer system configured with instructions to perform one ormore procedures in accordance with methods provided by various otherembodiments. Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set ofinstructions that are executable by a computer system, or by a processorlocated in the computer system, to perform such operations. In manycases, such software programs are encoded on physical, tangible, and/ornon-transitory computer readable media. Such computer readable mediamight include, to name but a few examples, optical media, magneticmedia, and the like.

In an aspect, a method might be provided for implementing videoqualification. The method might comprise initiating, by a premises-baseddevice associated with one or more subscribers of a service provider,video quality tests of one or more telecommunications links between thepremises-based device and a video distribution system associated withthe service provider. The method might further comprise sending, by thepremises-based device, results of the video quality tests of the one ormore telecommunications links to the service provider over a network.The method might also comprise receiving, by a server associated withthe service provider, the results of the video quality tests of the oneor more telecommunications links sent by the premises-based device overthe network. Thereafter, the method might comprise determining, by theserver, video quality levels supportable by each of the one or moretelecommunications links.

In some embodiments, the premises-based device might comprise one ormore of at least one user device, a modem, a residential gateway device,a network interface device (“NID”), or an optical network terminal(“ONT”). The at least one user device might comprise one or more devicesselected from a group consisting of a tablet computer, a smart phone, amobile phone, a gaming console, a portable gaming system, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a television set, a set top box, and aportable video playback device. In some instances, the video qualitytests might comprise one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio (“SNR”)test, a bit error rate (“BER”) test, a bandwidth test, or a simulatedmean opinion score (“MOS”) test, or any other suitable or similar videoquality measurement method or test, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the method might further comprisedetermining, by the server, which one or more video services of aplurality of video services are available to the one or more subscribersassociated with the premises-based device, based on the determined videoquality levels supportable by each of the one or more telecommunicationslinks. The method might comprise sending, by the server, a notificationto the one or more subscribers associated with the premises-based deviceindicating that the one or more video services are available to the oneor more subscribers. Sending, by the server, a notification to the oneor more subscribers associated with the premises-based device indicatingthat the one or more video services are available to the one or moresubscribers might include sending the notification to the premises-baseddevice. The method might also comprise providing, by the server,information to the one or more subscribers indicating a process forsubscribing to the one or more video services available to the one ormore subscribers. Providing, by the server, information to the one ormore subscribers indicating a process for subscribing to the one or morevideo services available to the one or more subscribers might includesending the information to the premises-based device. In some cases, themethod might comprise sending, by the server, at least one message tothe service provider indicating that a corresponding location associatedwith each of the one or more subscribers qualifies for the one or morevideo services. The method might further comprise receiving, by theserver, an order, from the one or more subscribers, for at least one ofthe one or more video services, and instructing, by the server, thevideo distribution system to deliver the at least one of the one or morevideo services to the premises-based device associated with the one ormore subscribers, in response to receiving the order.

In some cases, the method might comprise comparing, by the server, thedetermined video quality levels supportable by each of the one or moretelecommunications links with previously determined and stored videoquality levels supportable by each of the one or more telecommunicationslinks. The method might further comprise, based on a determination thatthe video quality levels have decreased by a predetermined amount for atleast one of the one or more telecommunications links, sending, by theserver, at least one of a work order to a technician to diagnose andrepair problems associated with the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications links or a message to the one or more subscribersassociated with the premises-based device indicating that a technicianwill soon arrive to diagnose and fix a problem associated with the atleast one of the one or more telecommunications links.

In another aspect, a system for implementing video qualification mightbe provided. The system might comprise a premises-based deviceassociated with one or more subscribers of a service provider and aserver associated with the service provider. The premises-based devicemight comprise one or more first processors configured to initiate videoquality tests of one or more telecommunications links between thepremises-based device and a video distribution system associated withthe service provider, and to send results of the video quality tests ofthe one or more telecommunications links to the service provider over anetwork. The server might comprise one or more second processorsconfigured to receive the results of the video quality tests of the oneor more telecommunications links sent by the one or more firstprocessors of the premises-based device over the network, and todetermine video quality levels supportable by each of the one or moretelecommunications links.

In yet another aspect, an apparatus for implementing video qualificationmight be provided. The apparatus might comprise one or more processorsand a non-transitory computer readable medium. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium might have stored thereon software comprising aset of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,causes the apparatus to perform one or more functions. The set ofinstructions might comprise instructions to receive results of videoquality tests of one or more telecommunications links between apremises-based device associated with one or more subscribers of aservice provider and a video distribution system associated with theservice provider. The set of instructions might further compriseinstructions to determine video quality levels supportable by each ofthe one or more telecommunications links.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodimentsdiscussed without departing from the scope of the invention. Forexample, while the embodiments described above refer to particularfeatures, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments havingdifferent combination of features and embodiments that do not includeall of the above described features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a general schematic diagram illustrating a system forimplementing video qualification, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 2 is a general schematic diagram illustrating another system forimplementing video qualification, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating a method forimplementing video qualification and delivering video services, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are illustrations of user devices used by users thatpresent exemplary graphical user interfaces for notifying users thatthey qualify for video services, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a general schematic flow diagram illustrating a method forimplementing video qualification and notifying users that a technicianhas been sent to diagnose and fix a problem associated with the user'svideo services, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are illustrations of user devices used by users thatpresent exemplary graphical user interfaces for notifying users that atechnician has been sent to diagnose and fix a problem associated withthe user's video services, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computerarchitecture, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,which can be used in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have beensummarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a fewexemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in theart to practice such embodiments. The described examples are providedfor illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the presentinvention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Inother instances, certain structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form. Several embodiments are described herein, and whilevarious features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should beappreciated that the features described with respect to one embodimentmay be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token,however, no single feature or features of any described embodimentshould be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, asother embodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

Various embodiments provide techniques for implementing videoqualification and/or implementing video quality measurements at acustomer premises and qualification of the customer premises forparticular levels of video data transmission.

According to some embodiments, a system might provide a method formeasuring the video quality levels at a customer's premises (either thecustomer's home or business premises). The video qualification systemmight gather data about the quality of the data feed (or communicationlines), by, for example, testing video quality (including determiningsignal-to-noise ratios (“SNR”), bit-error-rates (“BER”), mean-opinionscores (“MOS”), simulated MOS, and/or the like), testing bandwidth to auser device within a local area network (“LAN”), testing bandwidthbetween the LAN and the Internet or service provider network, or thelike. According to some embodiments, a system on a chip (“SOC”) typevideo qualification chip might receive video traffic (video data) fromthe network and then calculate the SNR, BER, MOS, and/or the like. Thismight be a background process performed on the chip. This process can beused either to pre-qualify a video subscriber before he or she hasordered the service, or as a post offering after the subscriber hasstarted using the service to let a service provider know how well thevideo is being delivered. Based on these performance metrics, theservice provider can fine tune its video offering. In some embodiments,the service provider can send down test video streams to the device andthen measure the results. These could be sent down on a predefinedinterval (including, but not limited to, every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 hours,or the like), or sent down at random times (including, withoutlimitation, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 times per day, or the like) to see how thedevice performs. These testing intervals may be set up in a backendsystem defined by the service provider. Alternatively, or in addition,the test chips could start at low bandwidth levels like 500 Kbps streamand then keep stepping up to 20 Mbps (e.g., in increments of 100, 200,300, 400, 500 Kbps, or the like; or might step up based on the bandwidthlevels shown, e.g., in Table 1 below) to see how the connectionperforms. Then, based on these levels the optimal video bandwidth levelcould be determined.

The video qualification system might gather data about what level ofvideo it could support (including, without limitation, digitaltelevision (“DTV”) levels, high-definition television (“HDTV”) levels,and ultra-high-definition television (“UHDTV”) levels, or the like).According to some embodiments, the data might be gathered in Megabitsper second or a similar metric so that the service provider can thendetermine what level of video would be offered. This might include peak,sustained, and average Mbps over time. The following table illustratesexample video testing levels, corresponding bandwidth levels,performance levels, and error rates (including, e.g., BER, SNR, MOS,etc.), each of which is provided merely for purposes of illustration,and are in no way limited to the values shown).

TABLE 1 Example Video Testing Levels Bandwidth Errors (BER, Video LevelLevel Performance SNR, etc.) VL-1 500 Kbps Pass 0% VL-2 1 Mbps Pass 0%VL-3 3 Mbps Pass 0% VL-4 5 Mbps Pass 5% VL-5 10 Mbps Pass 7% VL-6 20Mbps Fail 70%

Herein, “DTV levels” might refer to 480 line resolution (i.e., 480visible scanlines out of 525 lines, based upon National TelevisionSystem Committee (“NTSC”) standards) or 576 line resolution (i.e., 576visible scanlines out of 625 lines, based upon phase alternating line(“PAL”)/Sequential Color with Memory (“SECAM”) standards) video. “HDTVlevels” might refer to 720 or 1080 line resolution. For 720 lineresolution, the frame size is 1,280×720 pixels, and is a progressivescan type, with frame rates that include one of 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97,30, 50, 59.94, 60, or 72 Hz. For 1080 line resolution, the frame size is1,920×1,080 pixels, and is one of progressive or interlaced scan type,with frame rates that include one of 25 (50 fields/s), 29.97 (59.94fields/s), or 30 (60 fields/s) for interlaced scanning, and that includeone of 24, 25, 30, 50, or 60 Hz for progressive scanning. For“progressive scanning (p),” an image frame with all of its lines areredrawn when refreshing each image, while, for “interlaced scanning(i),” odd-numbered lines are redrawn during a first image refreshoperation, while even-numbered lines are redrawn during a second imagerefresh operation.

“UHDTV levels” might include, without limitation, 2000, 2160, 2540,4000, 4320, or greater line resolution, which might have frame sizes of2,048×1,536 pixels, 3,840×2,160 pixels, 4,520×2,540 pixels, 4,096×3,072,or 7,680×4,320 pixels, respectively, and are all typically progressivescan type. For 2000 line resolution, the frame rate is 24 Hz, while theframe rates for each of the 2160 and 4320 line resolution include one of60 or 120 Hz.

In some cases, this system might utilize a system on a chip (“SOC”) thatmay be added to existing customer premises equipment (“CPE”), such as anetwork interface device (“NID”), an optical network terminal (“ONT”), amodem, and/or other device that could be easily installed at thecustomer premises (typically on an exterior wall thereof). This devicemight be set-up to monitor the quality of data and quality of datatransmission at the customer premises, and then report it back to amonitoring system to identify homes that qualify for particular levelsof video services. By doing so, no special equipment needs to beinstalled to qualify locations for video services. The system could alsoreduce cost because it would be common in most, if not all, CPE.

Further, because the system would be common to most, if not all, CPE,users who are not yet subscribers of service providers can have theirpremises (and the communications links between their premises and theservice provider's media center) tested to determine whether thepremises qualify for video services and which levels of video servicesare available for the premises, and notifications can be sent by theservice provider or a third party (e.g., a clearinghouse, a promotionsentity, or the like) to these potential customers to indicate that theyqualify for certain levels of video services.

In some embodiments, periodic testing of the data feed (or communicationlines) of existing customers' premises can identify reductions in videoservice quality. When such reductions are identified, the system canautomatically remotely diagnose and fix the problem over the networkand/or automatically generate work orders to send technicians todiagnose and fix the problem. The system can also concurrently sendnotifications to the users (or subscribers) to indicate that the problemhas been identified and that the problem is being taken care of remotelyand/or that a technician has been sent to diagnose and fix the problem.

We now turn to the embodiments as illustrated by the drawings. FIGS. 1-8illustrate some of the features of the method, system, and apparatus forimplementing video qualification and/or implementing video qualitymeasurements at a customer premises and qualification of the customerpremises for particular levels of video data transmission, as referredto above. The methods, systems, and apparatuses illustrated by FIGS. 1-8refer to examples of different embodiments that include variouscomponents and steps, which can be considered alternatives or which canbe used in conjunction with one another in the various embodiments. Thedescription of the illustrated methods, systems, and apparatuses shownin FIGS. 1-8 is provided for purposes of illustration and should not beconsidered to limit the scope of the different embodiments.

With reference to the figures, FIG. 1 is a general schematic diagramillustrating a system 100 for implementing video qualification, inaccordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 1, system 100 mightcomprise one or more customer premises equipment (“CPE”) 105 located inor at a customer premises 110. The one or more CPE 105 might comprise anetwork interface device (“NID”) 115, an optical network terminal(“ONT”) 120, a modem or residential gateway (“RG”) 125, one or more userdevices 130. The one or more user devices 130 might comprise gamingconsole 130 a, digital video recording and playback device (“DVR”) 130b, set-top or set-back box (“STB”) 130 c, one or more television sets(“TVs”) 130 d-130 g, desktop computer 130 h, laptop computer 130 i, andone or more mobile user devices 135. The one or more TVs 130 d-130 gmight include any combination of a high-definition (“HD”) television, anInternet Protocol television (“IPTV”), and a cable television, or thelike, where one or both of HDTV and IPTV may be interactive TVs. The oneor more mobile user devices 135 might comprise one or more tabletcomputers 135 a, one or more smart phones 135 b, one or more mobilephones 135 c, or one or more portable gaming devices 135 d, and/or thelike.

System 100 might further comprise a remote terminal or server 140communicatively coupled to one or more CPEs 105 via network 145 (whichmight be an access network), and in some cases via one or moretelecommunications relay systems 150. The one or more telecommunicationsrelay systems 150 might include, without limitation, one or morewireless network interfaces (e.g., wireless modems, wireless accesspoints, and the like), one or more towers, one or more satellites, andthe like. System 100 might further comprise network 155 (which mightinclude, but is not limited to, a service provider network, a wide areanetwork (“WAN”), the Internet, or other suitable network, and the like),media center or media distribution center 160, media content receiver165, media content server 170, one or more databases 175. The one ormore databases 175 might include a database 175 a local to the remoteterminal 140 or a database local to the media center 160 or mediacontent server 170. In some embodiments, remote terminal 140—withdatabase 175 a communicatively coupled thereto—might be communicativelycoupled directly to only network 145, and indirectly to network 155 vianetwork 145. In other instances, remote terminal 140 might becommunicatively coupled directly to both networks 145 and 155. Mediacenter 160—which is communicatively coupled to network 155—might becommunicatively coupled directly to each of media content receiver 165and video content server 170. Database 175 b might be communicativelycoupled directly to video content server 170.

In operation, at least one of the CPEs 105 might monitor and measure thequality of data received, as well as the quality of data transmission,at the customer premises 110, which might include monitoring andmeasuring signal-to-noise ratios (“SNR”), bit-error-rates (“BER”),mean-opinion scores (“MOS”), simulated MOS, bandwidth to a user devicewithin a local area network (“LAN”) within the customer premises 110,bandwidth between the LAN and the networks 145 and/or 155, or the like.The measurements and data gathered by the at least one of the CPEs 105are then sent to the remote terminal 140 via network 145 and NID 115 orONT 120 (and in some cases, via the one or more telecommunications relaysystems 150) either wirelessly or via wired connections, or both.

The remote terminal 140 might determine, based on the receivedmeasurements and data, whether the customer premises 110 (and thetelecommunications lines leading to the customer premises 110) qualifyfor a particular level of video service (e.g., one or more of DTV, HDTV,or UHDTV levels). In some embodiments, because video compression isconstantly changing and offering better quality at lower bandwidths(e.g., lower Mbps speeds, or the like), such determination might includemeasuring the bandwidth, and the performance metrics at those measuredbandwidths (including, without limitation, SNR, BER, MOS, and/or thelike). An example of error levels (i.e., performance metrics) at whichperformance is deemed to pass or fail is shown, e.g., in Table 1 above(which is provided merely for purposes of illustration, and is notintended to limit the type of video levels, bandwidth levels,performance levels, and/or error levels, or the values or metricsassociated therewith). If it is determined that the customer premises110 (and the telecommunications lines leading to the customer premises110) qualify for a particular level of video service, the remoteterminal 140 might determine whether the customer premises 110 alreadyreceives video services at one of these particular levels of videoservice. If so, the remote terminal 140 might determine if the customerpremises 110 already receives the highest level of video services amongthese particular levels of video service. If not, the remote terminal140 might generate a notification indicating that the user or customerassociated with the customer premises 110 qualifies for an upgrade tohis or her video services, and might send the notification to one ormore user devices 130 associated with the user or customer (orassociated with the customer premises 110).

The notification might provide the user or customer with options to findout more about the available video services or upgrades, and/or provideoptions to upgrade video services, by following links included in thenotification and/or calling customer service telephone numbers alsoincluded in the notification.

In the case that the user or customer opts to upgrade video services,the remote terminal 140 might automatically send instructions to mediacenter 160 via network 155 (and, in some cases, also via network 145) tobegin providing the upgraded video services to the CPEs 105 at customerpremises 110, and to update the user's or customer's account withindatabase 175 a to reflect the upgrade in video services (and to updatebilling information associated with the user and/or the customerpremises 110). Media center 160 might receive video content via mediacontent receiver 165, from media content server 170, and/or fromdatabase 175 b to broadcast, stream, or otherwise transmit requestedvideo content to the CPEs 105 at customer premises 110. The requestedvideo content, in some embodiments, might include on-demand videocontent or broadcast video content, both at the upgraded video servicelevels (e.g., HDTV levels or UHDTV levels).

According to some embodiments, the at least one of the CPEs 105 mightcontinue to monitor and measure the quality of data received, as well asthe quality of data transmission, at the customer premises 110—includingmonitoring and measuring SNR, BER, MOS, simulated MOS, bandwidth to auser device within the LAN (within the customer premises 110), bandwidthbetween the LAN and the networks 145 and/or 155, or the like. Themeasurements and data are also sent to the remote terminal 140 vianetwork 145 and NID 115 or ONT 120 (and in some cases, via the one ormore telecommunications relay systems 150) either wirelessly or viawired connections, or both.

The remote terminal 140—which periodically stores such measurements anddata, e.g., in database 175 a—might also periodically compare the newlyreceived measurements and data with previously stored measurements anddata for the customer premises 110 (and the telecommunications lineslinking to the customer premises 110). Based on a determination that thevideo quality levels have decreased, the remote terminal 140 might senda work order to one or more technicians to diagnose and repair theproblems associated with the telecommunications lines, service providerequipment, and/or CPEs accessible by the service provider (i.e., CPEsmounted to an exterior wall of the customer premises 110, including,without limitation, NID 115 and ONT 120), or the like. In some cases, ifit is determined by remote terminal 140 that more than one customerpremises 110 suffer concurrent decreases in video service levels, theremote terminal 140 might apply diagnostic algorithms to determinewhether a common problem exists. For example, if a number of customerpremises 110 that are connected to the same digital subscriber lineaccess multiplexer (“DSLAM”), then it may be determined that the problemmight lie with the DSLAM or service provider equipment upstream of theDSLAM (i.e., from the media center 160 to the DSLAM, etc.). If it isdetermined that the only customer premises 110 affected are ones withHDTV level or UHDTV level video service subscriptions, then it may bedetermined that bandwidth of one or more telecommunications paths orlinks leading to the affected customer premises 110 might be at issue.

Concurrent with sending the work order to the one or more technicians,the remote terminal 140 might also send notifications to users orcustomers of the affected customer premises 110 indicating that theservice provider is aware of the problem and is taking steps to fix theproblem, including sending technicians to diagnose and repair theproblem.

The automated and automatic monitoring of the video quality levels ofthe telecommunications links by the CPEs obviates the need for sendingof technicians to the customer premises to test video quality levels,while allowing for periodic and/or continual monitoring, for upgradingnotification and/or diagnosis and repair functionalities.

FIG. 2 is a general schematic diagram illustrating another system 200for implementing video qualification, in accordance with variousembodiments. In FIG. 2, system 200 might comprise one or more firstcustomer premises devices 205 and/or one or more second customerpremises devices 210, each of which might be located at or in customerpremises 215. Some customer premises devices 205 and/or 210 (including,without limitation, a NID, an ONT, and/or an RG, or the like, such asNID 115, ONT 120, and/or RG 125, respectively as shown and describedabove with respect to FIG. 1) might be mounted to an exterior wall ofthe customer premises 215 (e.g., in weather-proof containers). System200 might further comprise remote terminal or server 220, network 225,network 230, media center 235, media content server 240, and databases245 a and 245 b, which might generally correspond to remote terminal orserver 140, network 145, network 155, media center 160, media contentserver 170, and databases 175 a and 175 b as shown and described abovewith respect to FIG. 1.

The one or more first customer premises devices 205 might each comprisea processor 205 a, a network device 205 b, a video qualification chip205 c, memory 205 d, a user input device 205 e, and/or a display 205 f,while the one or more second customer premises devices 210 might eachcomprise a processor 210 a, a network device 210 b, a videoqualification chip 210 c, and/or memory 210 d. The one or more firstcustomer premises devices 205, in some embodiments, might include anycombination of user devices (including, but not limited to, gamingconsole 130 a, DVR 130 b, STB 130 c, the one or more TVs 130 d-130 g,desktop computer 130 h, laptop computer 130 i, the one or more tabletcomputers 135 a, the one or more smart phones 135 b, the one or moremobile phones 135 c, or the one or more portable gaming devices 135 d,or the like, as shown and described in detail above with respect to FIG.1). The one or more second customer premises devices 210, in someinstances, might include any combination of a NID, an ONT, and/or an RG(including, but not limited to, NID 115, ONT 120, and/or RG 125,respectively, as shown and described with respect to FIG. 1).

The network devices 205 b and 210 b may each be embodied as one or moretransceivers, as one or more pairs of separate transmitters andreceivers, or as one or more separate and unpaired transmitters andreceivers, network interface cards, or the like. The network devices 205b and 210 b might be configured to communicate with network 225 eitherwirelessly and/or via wired connection. The one or more displays 120might include one or more touchscreen displays, one or morenon-touchscreen displays, or a combination of touchscreen andnon-touchscreen displays. The user input devices 205 e might include,without limitation, a built-in or external keypad or keyboard, a mouse,a remote control device (e.g., an Infrared (“IR”) remote controller, aBluetooth™-based remote controller, a non-Bluetooth™ wireless (e.g.,WIFI) remote controller, or the like), or any other suitable user inputdevice. In some cases, one or more mobile user devices (including,without limitation, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, aportable gaming device, or the like) might be used as a user inputdevice for (and external to) the one or more first customer premisesdevices 205.

The video qualification chips 205 c and 210 c may each be configured tomonitor and measure the quality of data received, as well as the qualityof data transmission, at the customer premises 215, which might includemonitoring and measuring signal-to-noise ratios (“SNR”), bit-error-rates(“BER”), mean-opinion scores (“MOS”), simulated MOS, bandwidth to a userdevice within a local area network (“LAN”) within customer premises 215,and/or bandwidth between the LAN and the networks 225 and/or 230, or thelike. The measurements and data gathered by at least one of the one ormore first customer premises devices 205 or the one or more secondcustomer premises devices 210 are then sent to the remote terminal 220via network 225 either wirelessly or via wired connections, or both.

The embodiment 200 of FIG. 2 might otherwise operate in a similar, ifnot identical, manner—with similar, if not identical, functionalityand/or components—as embodiment 100 as described in detail above withrespect to FIG. 1.

Although the embodiments described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2are directed to existing customers of a service provider, the variousembodiments are not so limited. With the use of video qualificationchips 210 c in most, if not all, customer premises devices 205 and 210(or CPEs 105), including in customer premises devices or CPEs ofnon-customer users, video quality levels that a potential customer'spremises (or the communications links between the potential customer'spremises and the media distribution center associated with a serviceprovider) might be periodically tested. If it is determined that thepotential customer's premises qualify for particular video services, theservice provider or a third party (e.g., a clearinghouse, a promotionsentity, or the like) might send notifications to known user devices ofthe potential customer to indicate that they (or their premises) qualifyfor particular video services, the notification including links to moreinformation about the particular video services and more informationabout how to subscribe. In some cases, automatic ads may be generatedthat provide pre-approved discounts or promotional deals for thepotential customers if they should choose to begin subscription of oneor more of the particular video services.

We now turn to FIGS. 3, 4A, and 4B, which are directed to monitoringcommunications links to a customer premises and notifying a userassociated with the customer premises as to whether and which videoservices are available to the user at the customer premises. FIG. 3 is ageneral schematic flow diagram illustrating a method 300 forimplementing video qualification and delivering video services, inaccordance with various embodiments. FIGS. 4A and 4B (collectively,“FIG. 4”) are illustrations of user devices used by users that presentexemplary graphical user interfaces for notifying users that theyqualify for video services, in accordance with various embodiments.

In FIG. 3, method 300 might comprise, at block 305, initiating, by apremises-based device (e.g., one or more of CPE 105 or customer premisesdevices 205 and/or 210 as shown and described with respect to FIGS. 1and 2), video quality tests of one or more telecommunications linksbetween the premises-based device and a video distribution system (e.g.,media center 160 or 235 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) that is associated witha service provider. The video quality tests might include monitoring andmeasuring one or more of signal-to-noise ratios (“SNR”), bit-error-rates(“BER”), mean-opinion scores (“MOS”), simulated MOS, bandwidth to a userdevice within a local area network (“LAN”) within the customer premises,or bandwidth between the LAN and various networks (e.g., networks 145,155, 225, and/or 230), and the like.

At block 310, method 300 might comprise sending, by the premises-baseddevice, results of the video quality tests of the one or moretelecommunications links to the service provider over a network (e.g.,one or more of network 145, 155, 225, or 230 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2).Method 300 might further comprise receiving, by a server associated withthe service provider (e.g., remote terminal or server 140 or 220), theresults of the video quality tests of the one or more telecommunicationslinks sent by the premises-based device over the network (block 315).The server might (at block 320) determine video quality levels (e.g.,DTV, HDTV, and/or UHDTV levels, or the specific line resolutions (e.g.,480, 720, 1080, 2000, 2160, 2540, 4000, or 4320 line resolution, etc.)associated with each of these levels, or the like) supportable by eachof the one or more telecommunications links, and might (at block 325)determine which one or more video services of a plurality of videoservices (including, but not limited to, 480 DTV, 720 or 1080 HDTV,and/or 2000, 2160, 2540, 4000, or 4320 UHDTV video services, etc.) areavailable to the one or more subscribers, based on the determined videoquality levels (determined at block 320).

At block 330, the method 300 might comprise, sending, by the server, anotification to the one or more subscribers indicating that one or morevideo services are available to the one or more subscribers. Method 300,at block 335, might comprise providing, by the server, information tothe one or more subscribers indicating a process for subscribing to theone or more video services available to the one or more subscribers(which might include upgrading to a higher level video service (e.g.,HDTV or UHDTV, etc.)).

Method 300 might further comprise, at block 340, receiving, by theserver, an order for at least one of the one or more video services fromthe one or more subscribers. At block 345, method 300 might compriseinstructing, by the server, the video distribution system to deliver theat least one of the one or more video services to the premises-baseddevice, in response to receiving the order from the one or moresubscribers.

In FIG. 4, although user devices 400 are shown as a tablet computer(FIG. 4A) and a TV (FIG. 4B), the various embodiments are not solimited, and user devices 400 might be any suitable user devicecomprising, without limitation, a gaming console, a DVR, an STB, anHDTV, an IPTV, a cable TV, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, asmart phone, a mobile phone, a portable gaming device, other suitableuser devices, or any combination of these user devices.

User device 400 might comprise device housing 405, a display screen 405a, and the like. In some embodiments, display screen 405 a mightcomprise a touchscreen display, a non-touchscreen display, or the like.Displayed on the display screen 405 a might be a graphical userinterface (“GUI”) 410, which may be a free floating GUI window filling aportion of the display screen 405 a or may be a software applicationthat fills the entire display screen 405 a. In some cases, the GUI 410might comprise a window that might be divided into two or more panels415, 420, and 425, e.g., by using a split screen arrangement or aseparate window arrangement (which might stack or tile the separatewindows). Alternatively, the two or more panels 415, 420, and 425 mightbe independent windows or related but separate windows. In the exampleof FIG. 4A, GUI 410 might be a GUI for an electronic mail (i.e., e-mail)software application (in this example, “UMail”). GUI 410 might comprisea header portion 430, which might include a logo for the e-mail softwareapplication (in this case, “UMail”), a welcome notice for the user (whoin this example has logged into the e-mail account), a link for the userto edit profiles, options, or otherwise manage his or her account (“MyAccount” link), and an option to log out of the e-mail account. GUI 410might further comprise a search bar or search field 435, which mightcomprise an input search field, a search command button or link, and anoption to access advanced search options (including, but not limited to,searching the user's e-mail by one or more of keywords, recipients,senders, dates or date ranges, or the like etc.).

In this case, an e-mail from the user's service provider might have beenreceived by the user, the e-mail notifying the user that the user hasqualified for high definition video services. The e-mail might includelinks or options within the e-mail to learn more about the videoservices available to the user, as well as links or options forupgrading to one or more of the available video services.

FIG. 4B shows a slightly different implementation of the notification asshown and described with respect to FIG. 4A. In FIG. 4B, thenotification might be in the form of an overlay or replacement screen oran electronic program guide panel 425 that displays the notification ofthe user qualifying for HD video services. Because the notification ispresented on a television set, the ability for the user to interact withthe notification is via a remote control unit or remote controller. Assuch, the system might be configured to appropriately perform thefunctions of invoking an information screen(s) regarding the availablevideo services and/or invoking a subscription screen(s) for upgrading toone or more of the available video services in response to one or moreof arrow buttons, an enter button, numerical keypads, or other functionbuttons entered by the user on a remote controller.

With reference to FIGS. 5, 6A, and 6B, these figures are directed tomonitoring communications links to a customer premises, determining thatthe video service levels have decreased, and notifying a user associatedwith the customer premises that the problem has been noted and that itis being diagnosed and will soon be fixed. FIG. 5 is a general schematicflow diagram illustrating a method 500 for implementing videoqualification and notifying users that a technician has been sent todiagnose and fix a problem associated with the user's video services, inaccordance with various embodiments. FIGS. 6A and 6B (collectively,“FIG. 6”) are illustrations of user devices 600 used by users thatpresent exemplary graphical user interfaces for notifying users that atechnician has been sent (or is being sent) to diagnose and fix aproblem associated with the user's video services, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

In FIG. 5, method 500 might comprise, at block 505, initiating, by apremises-based device (e.g., one or more of CPE 105 or customer premisesdevices 205 and/or 210 as shown and described with respect to FIGS. 1and 2), video quality tests of one or more telecommunications linksbetween the premises-based device and a video distribution system (e.g.,media center 160 or 235 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) that is associated witha service provider. The video quality tests might include monitoring andmeasuring one or more of signal-to-noise ratios (“SNR”), bit-error-rates(“BER”), mean-opinion scores (“MOS”), simulated MOS, bandwidth to a userdevice within a local area network (“LAN”) within the customer premises,or bandwidth between the LAN and various networks (e.g., networks 145,155, 225, and/or 230), and the like.

At block 510, method 500 might comprise sending, by the premises-baseddevice, results of the video quality tests of the one or moretelecommunications links to the service provider over a network (e.g.,one or more of network 145, 155, 225, or 230 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2).Method 500 might further comprise receiving, by a server associated withthe service provider (e.g., remote terminal or server 140 or 220) theresults of the video quality tests of the one or more telecommunicationslinks sent by the premises-based device over the network (block 515).The server might (at block 520) determine video quality levels (e.g.,DTV, HDTV, and/or UHDTV levels, or the specific line resolutions (e.g.,480, 720, 1080, 2000, 2160, 2540, 4000, or 4320 line resolution, etc.)associated with each of these levels, or the like) supportable by eachof the one or more telecommunications links.

The method 500 might comprise comparing, with the server, the determinedvideo quality levels supportable by each of the one or moretelecommunications links with previously determined and stored videoquality levels supportable by the corresponding one of the one or moretelecommunications links (block 525). Based on a determination that thevideo quality levels have decreased by a predetermined amount (e.g., 5,10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50% decrease in video quality level, etc., which insome cases might correspond to a similar increase in error rates ornoise levels, or the like) for at least one telecommunications link,method 500 might comprise (at block 530) sending, by the server, a workorder to a technician to diagnose and repair problems associated withthe at least one telecommunications link, and/or might comprise (atblock 535) sending, by the server, a message to one or more subscribersindicating that a technician will soon arrive to diagnose and fix aproblem associated with the at least one telecommunications link.

In FIG. 6, although user devices 600 are shown as a TV (FIG. 6A) and asmart phone (FIG. 6B), the various embodiments are not so limited, anduser devices 600 might be any suitable user device comprising, withoutlimitation, a gaming console, a DVR, an STB, an HDTV, an IPTV, a cableTV, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a mobilephone, a portable gaming device, other suitable user devices, or anycombination of these user devices.

User device 600 might comprise device housing 605, a display screen 605a, and the like. In some embodiments, display screen 605 a mightcomprise a touchscreen display, a non-touchscreen display, or the like.In the examples of FIG. 6, a panel 625 of a graphical user interface(“GUI”) might present a message or notification from the serviceprovider to the user indicating that the service provider has determinedthat the video quality level for the user's video subscription hasdecreased or otherwise been negatively affected, and that the serviceprovider is currently working on the problem, and that a technician isbeing sent to the user's area to diagnose and fix the problem. Themessage might also include options for the user to contact the serviceprovider for more information about the subject problem or other issueswith the services provided by the service provider to the user. Althoughnot shown, another message might be sent to the service provider and/orthe technician to indicate the location of the user/subscriber.

We now turn to FIG. 7, which is a block diagram illustrating anexemplary computer architecture. FIG. 7 provides a schematicillustration of one embodiment of a computer system 700 that can performthe methods provided by various other embodiments, as described herein,and/or can perform the functions of local computer system 130, 135, 205,or 210, or remote computer system 140, 160, 170, 220, 235, or 240, orother computer systems as described above. It should be noted that FIG.7 is meant only to provide a generalized illustration of variouscomponents, of which one or more, or none, of each may be utilized asappropriate. FIG. 7, therefore, broadly illustrates how individualsystem elements may be implemented in a relatively separated orrelatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 700 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 705, or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate. The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 710, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors, or one or more special-purpose processorssuch as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, or the like; one or more input devices 715, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, or the like; and one ormore output devices 720, which can include without limitation a displaydevice, a printer, or the like.

The computer system 700 may further include, or be in communicationwith, one or more storage devices 725. The one or more storage devices725 can comprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessiblestorage, or can include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drivearray, an optical storage device, a solid-state storage device. Thesolid-state storage device can include, but is not limited to, one ormore of a random access memory (“RAM”) or a read-only memory (“ROM”),which can be programmable, flash-updateable, or the like. Such storagedevices may be configured to implement any appropriate data stores,including without limitation various file systems, database structures,or the like.

The computer system 700 might also include a communications subsystem730, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device or chipset, or the like. The wireless communicationdevice might include, but is not limited to, a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, or the like.

The communications subsystem 730 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork (such as network 145, 155, 225, or 230, to name examples), withother computer systems, with any other devices described herein, or withany combination of network, systems, and devices. According to someembodiments, network 145 (as well as network 155, 225, or 230) mightinclude a local area network (“LAN”), including without limitation afiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™ network, and the like;a wide-area network (“WAN”); a wireless wide area network (“WWAN”); avirtual network, such as a virtual private network (“VPN”); theInternet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network(“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network, including withoutlimitation a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11 suite ofprotocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol, or any other wireless protocol; orany combination of these or other networks. In many embodiments, thecomputer system 700 will further comprise a working memory 735, whichcan include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 700 may also comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 735, including anoperating system 740, device drivers, executable libraries, or othercode. The software elements may include one or more application programs745, which may comprise computer programs provided by variousembodiments, or may be designed to implement methods and/or configuresystems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. Merely byway of example, one or more procedures described with respect to themethods discussed above might be implemented as code or instructionsexecutable by a computer or by a processor within a computer. In anaspect, such code or instructions can be used to configure or adapt ageneral purpose computer, or other device, to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions or code might be encoded and/or stored on anon-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as the storagedevices 725 described above. In some cases, the storage medium might beincorporated within a computer system, such as the system 700. In otherembodiments, the storage medium might be separate from a computersystem—that is, a removable medium, such as a compact disc, or the like.In some embodiments, the storage medium might be provided in aninstallation package, such that the storage medium can be used toprogram, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer with theinstructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take the formof executable code, which is executable by the computer system 700, ormight take the form of source or installable code. The source orinstallable code, upon compilation, installation, or both compilationand installation, on the computer system 700 might take the form ofexecutable code. Compilation or installation might be performed usingany of a variety of generally available compilers, installationprograms, compression/decompression utilities, or the like.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware—such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, or the like—might also be used. In some cases, particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system, such as the computer system 700, to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods might beperformed by the computer system 700 in response to processor 710executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions. The one ormore instructions might be incorporated into the operating system 740 orother code that may be contained in the working memory 735, such as anapplication program 745. Such instructions may be read into the workingmemory 735 from another computer readable medium, such as one or more ofthe storage devices 725. Merely by way of example, execution of thesequences of instructions contained in the working memory 735 mightcause the one or more processors 710 to perform one or more proceduresof the methods described herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 700, various computer readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions or code to the one ormore processors 710 for execution, might be used to store and/or carrysuch instructions/code such as signals, or both. In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical, or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms,including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, andtransmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, opticaldisks, magnetic disks, or both, such as the storage devices 725.Volatile media includes, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as theworking memory 735. Transmission media includes, without limitation,coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 705, as well as the various components of thecommunication subsystem 730, or the media by which the communicationssubsystem 730 provides communication with other devices. Hence,transmission media can also take the form of waves, including withoutlimitation radio, acoustic, or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Common forms of physical or tangible computer readable media include,for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape,or any other magnetic medium; a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or any other opticalmedium; punch cards, paper tape, or any other physical medium withpatterns of holes; a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, or any othermemory chip or cartridge; a carrier wave; or any other medium from whicha computer can read instructions or code.

As noted above, a set of embodiments comprises methods and systems forimplementing video qualification and/or implementing video qualitymeasurements at a customer premises and qualification of the customerpremises for particular levels of video data transmission. FIG. 8illustrates a schematic diagram of a system 800 that can be used inaccordance with one set of embodiments. The system 800 can include oneor more user computers or user devices 805. A user computer or userdevice 805 can be a general purpose personal computer (including, merelyby way of example, desktop computers, tablet computers, laptopcomputers, handheld computers, and the like, running any appropriateoperating system, several of which are available from vendors such asApple, Microsoft Corp., and the like) and/or a workstation computerrunning any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX-likeoperating systems. A user computer or user device 805 can also have anyof a variety of applications, including one or more applicationsconfigured to perform methods provided by various embodiments (asdescribed above, for example), as well as one or more officeapplications, database client and/or server applications, and/or webbrowser applications. Alternatively, a user computer or user device 805can be any other electronic device, such as a thin-client computer,Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant,capable of communicating via a network (e.g., the network 810 describedbelow) and/or of displaying and navigating web pages or other types ofelectronic documents. Although the exemplary system 800 is shown withthree user computers or user devices 805, any number of user computersor user devices can be supported.

Certain embodiments operate in a networked environment, which caninclude a network 810. The network 810 can be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-available (and/orfree or proprietary) protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP,SNA™, IPX™, AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, thenetwork 810 can include a local area network (“LAN”), including withoutlimitation a fiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™ networkand/or the like; a wide-area network (“WAN”); a wireless wide areanetwork (“WWAN”); a virtual network, such as a virtual private network(“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network,including without limitation a network operating under any of the IEEE802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art,and/or any other wireless protocol; and/or any combination of theseand/or other networks. In a particular embodiment, the network mightinclude an access network of the service provider (e.g., an Internetservice provider (“ISP”)). In another embodiment, the network mightinclude a core network of the service provider, and/or the Internet.

Embodiments can also include one or more server computers 815. Each ofthe server computers 815 may be configured with an operating system,including without limitation any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially (or freely) available server operating systems. Each ofthe servers 815 may also be running one or more applications, which canbe configured to provide services to one or more clients 805 and/orother servers 815.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 815 might be a data server,as described above. The data server might include (or be incommunication with) a web server, which can be used, merely by way ofexample, to process requests for web pages or other electronic documentsfrom user computers 805. The web server can also run a variety of serverapplications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, databaseservers, Java servers, and the like. In some embodiments of theinvention, the web server may be configured to serve web pages that canbe operated within a web browser on one or more of the user computers805 to perform methods of the invention.

The server computers 815, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can be configured with one or moreapplications accessible by a client running on one or more of the clientcomputers 805 and/or other servers 815. Merely by way of example, theserver(s) 815 can be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the user computers 805and/or other servers 815, including without limitation web applications(which might, in some cases, be configured to perform methods providedby various embodiments). Merely by way of example, a web application canbe implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in anysuitable programming language, such as Java™, C, C#™ or C++, and/or anyscripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, as well ascombinations of any programming and/or scripting languages. Theapplication server(s) can also include database servers, includingwithout limitation those commercially available from Oracle™,Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™ and the like, which can process requests fromclients (including, depending on the configuration, dedicated databaseclients, API clients, web browsers, etc.) running on a user computer oruser device 805 and/or another server 815. In some embodiments, anapplication server can perform one or more of the processes forimplementing automated cloud expansion and ordering, or the like, asdescribed in detail above. Data provided by an application server may beformatted as one or more web pages (comprising HTML, JavaScript, etc.,for example) and/or may be forwarded to a user computer 805 via a webserver (as described above, for example). Similarly, a web server mightreceive web page requests and/or input data from a user computer 805and/or forward the web page requests and/or input data to an applicationserver. In some cases a web server may be integrated with an applicationserver.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 815 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementvarious disclosed methods, incorporated by an application running on auser computer 805 and/or another server 815. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer or user device 805 and/or server 815.

It should be noted that the functions described with respect to variousservers herein (e.g., application server, database server, web server,file server, etc.) can be performed by a single server and/or aplurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specificneeds and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases820. The location of the database(s) 820 is discretionary: merely by wayof example, a database 820 a might reside on a storage medium local to(and/or resident in) a server 815 a (and/or a user computer or userdevice 805). Alternatively, a database 820 b can be remote from any orall of the computers 805, 815, so long as it can be in communication(e.g., via the network 810) with one or more of these. In a particularset of embodiments, a database 820 can reside in a storage-area network(“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessaryfiles for performing the functions attributed to the computers 805, 815can be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 820 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for implementing video qualification,the method comprising: initiating, by a premises-based device associatedwith one or more subscribers of a service provider, video quality testsof one or more telecommunications links between the premises-baseddevice and a video distribution system associated with the serviceprovider; sending, by the premises-based device, results of the videoquality tests of the one or more telecommunications links to the serviceprovider over a network; receiving, by a server associated with theservice provider, the results of the video quality tests of the one ormore telecommunications links sent by the premises-based device over thenetwork; and determining, by the server, video quality levelssupportable by each of the one or more telecommunications links.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the premises-based device comprises one ormore of at least one user device, a modem, a residential gateway device,a network interface device (“NID”), or an optical network terminal(“ONT”).
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one user devicecomprises one or more devices selected from a group consisting of atablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a gaming console, aportable gaming system, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, atelevision set, a set top box, and a portable video playback device. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the video quality tests comprise one ormore of a signal-to-noise ratio (“SNR”) test, a bit error rate (“BER”)test, a bandwidth test, or a simulated mean opinion score (“MOS”) test.5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, by the server, anotification to the one or more subscribers associated with thepremises-based device indicating that one or more video services areavailable to the one or more subscribers, by sending the notification tothe premises-based device; and providing, by the server, information tothe one or more subscribers indicating a process for subscribing to theone or more video services available to the one or more subscribers, bysending the information to the premises-based device.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: sending, by the server, at least onemessage to the service provider indicating that a corresponding locationassociated with each of the one or more subscribers qualifies for one ormore video services, based on the determined video quality levelssupportable by each of the one or more telecommunications links.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising: receiving, by the server, anorder, from the one or more subscribers, for at least one of the one ormore video services; and instructing, by the server, the videodistribution system to deliver the at least one of the one or more videoservices to the premises-based device associated with the one or moresubscribers, in response to receiving the order.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: comparing, by the server, the determined videoquality levels supportable by each of the one or more telecommunicationslinks with previously determined and stored video quality levelssupportable by each of the one or more telecommunications links; andbased on a determination that the video quality levels have decreased bya predetermined amount for at least one of the one or moretelecommunications links, sending, by the server, at least one of a workorder to a technician to diagnose and repair problems associated withthe at least one of the one or more telecommunications links or amessage to the one or more subscribers associated with thepremises-based device indicating that a technician will soon arrive todiagnose and fix a problem associated with the at least one of the oneor more telecommunications links.
 9. A system for implementing videoqualification, the system comprising: a premises-based device associatedwith one or more subscribers of a service provider, the premises-baseddevice comprising one or more first processors configured to: initiatevideo quality tests of one or more telecommunications links between thepremises-based device and a video distribution system associated withthe service provider; and send results of the video quality tests of theone or more telecommunications links to the service provider over anetwork; and a server associated with the service provider, the servercomprising one or more second processors configured to: receive theresults of the video quality tests of the one or more telecommunicationslinks sent by the one or more first processors of the premises-baseddevice over the network; and determine video quality levels supportableby each of the one or more telecommunications links.
 10. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the premises-based device comprises one or more of atleast one user device, a modem, a residential gateway device, a networkinterface device (“NID”), or an optical network terminal (“ONT”). 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one user device comprisesone or more devices selected from a group consisting of a tabletcomputer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a gaming console, a portablegaming system, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a television set,a set top box, and a portable video playback device.
 12. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the video quality tests comprise one or more of asignal-to-noise ratio (“SNR”) test, a bit error rate (“BER”) test, abandwidth test, or a simulated mean opinion score (“MOS”) test.
 13. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the one or more second processors areconfigured to send the notification to the one or more subscribersassociated with the premises-based device indicating that the one ormore video services are available to the one or more subscribers, bysending the notification to the premises-based device, and wherein theone or more second processors are configured to provide the informationto the one or more subscribers indicating the process for subscribing tothe one or more video services available to the one or more subscribers,by sending the information to the premises-based device.
 14. The systemof claim 9, wherein the one or more second processors of the server arefurther configured to: send at least one message to the service providerindicating that a corresponding location associated with each of the oneor more subscribers qualifies for one or more video services, based onthe determined video quality levels supportable by each of the one ormore telecommunications links.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein theone or more second processors of the server are further configured to:receive an order, from the one or more subscribers, for at least one ofthe one or more video services; and instruct the video distributionsystem to deliver the at least one of the one or more video services tothe premises-based device associated with the one or more subscribers,in response to receiving the order.
 16. The system of claim 9, whereinthe one or more second processors of the server are further configuredto: compare the determined video quality levels supportable by each ofthe one or more telecommunications links with previously determined andstored video quality levels supportable by each of the one or moretelecommunications links; and based on a determination that the videoquality levels have decreased by a predetermined amount for at least oneof the one or more telecommunications links, send at least one of a workorder to a technician to diagnose and repair problems associated withthe at least one of the one or more telecommunications links or amessage to one or more subscribers associated with the premises-baseddevice indicating that a technician will soon arrive to diagnose and fixa problem associated with the at least one of the one or moretelecommunications links.
 17. An apparatus for implementing videoqualification, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors; anon-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon softwarecomprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, causes the apparatus to perform one or more functions, theset of instructions comprising: instructions to receive results of videoquality tests of one or more telecommunications links between apremises-based device associated with one or more subscribers of aservice provider and a video distribution system associated with theservice provider; and instructions to determine video quality levelssupportable by each of the one or more telecommunications links.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 17, wherein the set of instructions furthercomprises: instructions to receive an order, from the one or moresubscribers, for at least one of one or more video services that aredetermined to be available to the one or more subscribers based on thedetermined video quality levels supportable by each of the one or moretelecommunications links; and instructions to instruct the videodistribution system to deliver the at least one of the one or more videoservices to the premises-based device associated with the one or moresubscribers, in response to receiving the order.
 19. A video qualitychip installed in a premises-based device for implementing videoqualification, the premises-based device being associated with one ormore subscribers of a service provider, the video quality chipcomprising: a processor; a non-transitory computer readable mediumhaving stored thereon software comprising a set of instructions that,when executed by the processor, causes the premises-based device toperform one or more functions, the set of instructions comprising:instructions to initiate video quality tests of one or moretelecommunications links between the premises-based device and a videodistribution system associated with a service provider; and instructionsto send results of the video quality tests of the one or moretelecommunications links to an apparatus over a network, the apparatusbeing associated with a service provider.